Inflating grades can inflate student expectations as well

Not sure how or why it happened, but the type of "grade inflation" that began back in the Jimmy Carter administration is now at an all-time high.

In fact, now that everybody is expected to be at the top, the new norm is there, too, not in the middle.

For us "normal curve" folk, this wreaks havoc on our distribution. There's no need to calculate standard deviations: They don't exist anymore. We might have to develop a new statistical principle, though: "maximus kurtosis skewness." That is, everyone is at the top - no exceptions.

While some high schools dole out valedictorian diplomas to anyone walking through the lunch line, I suspect grade inflation is more apparent in higher education than in K-12 systems.

It's common for each student in a class of, say 20, students to receive an "A" as the final course grade. I guess it's possible for all of them to master the content equally well.

There's got to be more to this "A" phenomenon than mere Lake Wobegon reasoning, though. It might be connected to another closely related phenomenon: entitlement.

A growing number of Generation Z students enter college having passed their end-of-course syllogism exam with this one: "Give me the question with the right answer. Ask me the question, and I'll give you your answer. Therefore, you must now give me an 'A.' "

Just last week a student appealed an A- grade. The appeal was based on this rationale: "I have made A's in all my other classes, so I deserve an A in this class, too." Pretty hard to counter that type of higher level thinking, eh?

A better and more reasonable argument would have been, "You won't have to calculate a standard deviation."

As a colleague once told me, "Anyone can make an exam so difficult that students won't do well. It takes a real creative diplomat to construct one that everybody can master." Guess we are producing our fair share of creative diplomats these days, then.

All of this calls into question what must be false comparisons of learning across international borders. If students are all making A's, what difference does it make if their math, science and literacy scores are not up to snuff? And for those of you who think this column deserves a grade of "C," I would agree, but only if "C" is for average; otherwise, I get an "A."